AOL Tossing Cookies

[hankster]

I know this comes up once in awhile so I am not the only one having this problem. At least once a day I get an email from an AOL user saying they can not log in. Trying to tell an AOL user about deleting cookies is, for the most point, useless as many of them are lucky they learned to even log on to AOL itself.

While it may be that AOL's browser is flakey, there are 25+ million AOL users with that flakey browser. Since it seems that most of the competition to vB does not have this problem, I would think that this would be looked into more then just trying to shrug it off.

Are there any plans to fix this in vB?

[hankster]

I take it that since this hasn't been replied to that no one at vB cares about this problem?

[Steve Machol]

Of course we care. However it's not exactly quick or easy to rewrite vB to take fix it for one buggy browser while still maintaining compatibility with less buggy browsers. In fact I'm not sure this is possible. However I'll let the Devs answer more authoritatively on this issue.

[Castel]

smachol, as mentioned by myself and other admins in this thread , this isn't an AOL browser problem but an AOL ISP problem. Almost every single user reporting this problem on my forum uses IE 5.x or 6.0.

Not that I don't have any faith in the devs but how are they gonna attempt to fix something that can't be duplicated unless you have AOL? And even then the problem is not consistent cuz I know I have far more then a few AOL users registered and the problem just seems to go away after a couple of hours/days. They just get stuck in an endless loop of being asked to login when they try to do something.

[hankster]

I figured the Devs cared, but I wanted to get a response

This has been going on ever since I have really looked at vB and since I switched from UBB. Just look at the messages here, we see them a number of times each week. I never once had this problem with UBB so it is solvable.

No matter if it's an AOL browser or ISP problem, it is not just one browser but a problem that can't be ignored considering AOL is, by far, the largest ISP in the world.

If it isn't solved now, the same problems will just carry over to vB3 and with the new release this will be pushed even further down the "to do" list as new critical problems take priority.

IMHO, it would best be solved now before vB3 comes out so there will not be this issue with the new version.

[Steve Machol]

Originally posted by Castel
smachol, as mentioned by myself and other admins in this thread , this isn't an AOL browser problem but an AOL ISP problem.

However there's also this thread which does indicate an AOL browser problem:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showt...threadid=50833

Frankly I have no idea why these problems are happening to some people. I've had exactly one complaint on both of my forums and this person was using the AOL browser. A rough calculation shows that approximately one-third of my members are on AOL yet I have no other reports of any problems.

At any rate I'm sure the Developers are looking at this whole issue seriously and will do whatever is within their power to reduce or eliminate these problems.

[hankster]

Here is my latest, I'll post them as I get them:

Date: Sat, 27 Jul 2002 13:10:08 EDT

HI
ive been trying for an hour to try to log on and cant.
55 chevy

[Steve Machol]

Things to check when this happens:

o What browser and version are they using?
o In their user cp, what settings do they have for:
&nbsp&nbsp- Automatically login
&nbsp&nbsp- Browse the board with cookies

[hankster]

Not sure what browser but they browse with cookies and remember username/password.

[neal007]

What I tell my users that have this problem is to logon via AOL then minimize AOL and double-click (start) Internet Explorer on its own. This usually solves the problem! As always, I tell my users get the latest and greatest versions, i.e. IE, before bugging me!

Once they use Internet Explorer stand-alone, all problems cease.

[hankster]

And the next one:

hi sir sorry to bother you but i reg a couple of weeks ago and now for some reason when i go in the boards my name doesnt show up or lets me get into the news items you have entered.it just started it today it was fine last night. dont know if i did something wrong or not could you please see if i made an
error on that end. thanks for your assistance...bubba

[hankster]

And the next one:

HI ALL

I have followd all the steps and still cant log on.everytime i try this, it pops up thank for loggin in and then gose back to saying your not log in. i can go to all the forums but cant post. so please HELP.

[Jeff Dillon]

Us, too

And one from the SignOnSanDiego.com forums:

This time the site won't even allow me to read. Why bother with it. This is nothing more than a giant headach, I donnot need! Thanks for having on contribute to the "old message boards", the one that was easier to acess. It was a very good and enjoyable time for me.

We, too, have about 25 percent of our registered users accessing us via AOL, but only a handful have had posting problems. I've talked them through all sorts of cookies and logon options with no resolution.

And don't get me started on WebTV...

[hankster]

Here is another:

your web site tells me" thank you for logging on"but then tells me "you may not post" whats going on here???? been trying to post for weeks now but the same thing keeps happening. frank pena pass word- xxxxxxxxxx

[doubletroublevb]

I have the same problem but it isn't just with AOL. I have cable users getting it and an AOL user who switched to cable. In the short run I'm having the users first try deleting cookies and if that doesn't work I have them turn off Browse Board with Cookies.

Once I have time I'll teach myself php and try and debug the problem myself because it has to be part my fault part vB's fault.